Gulsum Buket Yalcin, mother of Yavuz Yalcin (9), has denounced a team of doctors after they failed to diagnose her son with bone cancer. Despite him receiving extensive medical attention, including MRIs and X-rays, Yavuz was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma in another hospital, 12 months after the initial tests were performed.
Yavuz started feeling pain in his right leg in October 2023. When the pain lasted for months, they took him to the hospital. Every single exam and image came back negative for anything particularly worrying. "They said to me they had ruled out "things like cancer and tumours," said Gulsum to the Daily Mail.
After receiving a physiotherapist, Gulsum noticed a significant improvement in Yavuz. He was even able to walk again. "The doctor said, "He's walking OK, it's not painful anymore," Gulsum said. "The specialist told me, "Why are you here? Why did you bring him - he's fine."
Fortunately, this didn't convince Gulsum, who said: "I know my child, but unfortunately I was being treated like I was crazy." She was, in fact, not crazy, since Yavuz's pain came back on June 2024. "We thought maybe he had an injury, maybe he had muscle pain, maybe he has growing pains," she said.
The Diagnosis Finally Arrives
After unsuccessfully treating his son with massages or painkillers, she took him back to the same hospital. As she expected, they didn't find anything wrong, again. That was when she took Yavuz to Westmead Children's Hospital, which finally confirmed that Yavuz had a mass on his spine.
"Unfortunately we were diagnosed late - one year later," Gulsum said after receiving Yavuz's Ewing Sarcoma diagnosis. According to Gulsum, doctors found that, apparently, the cancer had spread to his lungs: "But he got metastatic on his lungs. There are four small tumours. Maybe he wouldn't have had that last year."
While his prognosis is unknown at the time, he is scheduled to undergo a 12-month radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment. "Everyday is challenging for us at the moment. I don't know what is going to happen next," Gulsum said. Fortunately, Yavuyz has not lost his appetite and Gulsum's workplace has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help cover the expenses.
